


Welcome to Glacia

by sian1359



Category: Black Jewels - Anne Bishop, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, F/M, First Meetings, M/M, Multi, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-10 23:03:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/791211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sian1359/pseuds/sian1359
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While investigating trouble in a landen village, Queen Pepper and her escorts find something more than a simple farmer's dispute. For Warlord Phil Coulson, it just might change his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to Glacia

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the AU: Fusion square on my trope bingo - round one card; an amnesty fill. Avengers (MCU) fused into Anne Bishop's Black Jewels verse, set a thousand years after the stories of Janelle and the SaDiablos
> 
> Everyone needs to thank auburnnothenna for the encouragement and vast improvements to what I came up with first go around. I do, profusely.

 

They all felt the remnants of a psychic storm the instant Happy dropped the Coach from the Web to the Landing. Blood had fought Blood recently, and near enough for another of the Blood to feel the aftermath. The land fairly shuddered from the powers that had been unleashed and thus, in sympathy, so did Pepper. From his position between Bucky and Rhodey, the three of them across from the Queen and the two Red Jeweled Warlord Princes bracketing her, Phil watched Tony and Steve exchanged a look over Pepper's head, the Queen's Consort for once in full agreement with her Master of the Guard. Pepper, however, was not a woman easily cowed by danger, or by the always attentive males of her First Circle. Before either Warlord Prince – before _any_ of her advisers – could suggest she stay in the coach or, even better, direct Happy to once more catch the Winds and return to the Palace to insure the her safety, the Queen rose, moved into the center aisle, then stepped forward to put hand to door and open it.

"Tony, no," she told her Consort when he reached out to pull her back in. At least she'd had the sense to throw up a Sapphire shield around herself as she stepped down, one that was quickly augmented and reinforced by Red outer layers from both Tony and Steve, Phil suspected.

Instead of arguing with her too, Steve enacted his own departure, directing Bucky to exit through the other door to check for any disturbances or dangers on the eastern side of the landing while Steve and Rhodey followed the Queen. The three soldiers took up defensive positions while Tony continued his attempt to cajole the Queen back into the coach. Phil also followed his Queen's wishes though he, too, would have preferred it if Pepper gave in to Tony's paranoia just this once.

Yes, they had come here to the northeastern part of Glacia to investigate landen claims of trouble, but no report had indicated Blood involvement, much less something that might have led to a personal feud or territorial battle and unleashed such a storm. Otherwise, Steve would have insisted that some of his people check out the area and situation first, and only allowed Pepper access to deal with the aftermath and the healing of tempers, victims, or the land, as necessary afterward. Steve wouldn't have been alone in that, either.

That was not to say that Phil wouldn't have made the journey in either case. In investigations such as this, Phil acted for Jarvis, as the Queen's Steward no longer left the palace grounds. Landen histories and their societal protocols were one of Phil's special areas of expertise, due to his grandmother having been born bereft of even the ability to do basic craft.

Phil set his own personal shield, twining both his birthright Blood Opal with the Green of his offering, so that he might stand longer against any lingering threat without becoming a burden to those around him who wore darker Jewels. Leaving the proximity of the warded coach, he could also sense a shield of Red sliding around the entirety of the Landing, either Steve or Tony's doing, as they were the two strongest present. While one stood as sentry and defender, the other opened his psychic Sight and sent out a probe to determine whether any of those involved in the conflict still abided, as well as to determine whether any surprises had been left behind, such as a trap or warning.

So often in personal conflict in how they interacted with one another, a typical response between two headstrong Warlord Princes who both wore Red Jewels, the seamless way Tony and Steve worked  together when protecting the Queen still astonished Phil. At this point, he had begun to think that Tony now acted as Consort to both, given how difficult it was to tell their magics apart. Such a triad was common enough in the islands of Phil's birth – at least between lesser witches and warlords – though it was very rare elsewhere and unknown even in his home Territory to occur between Queens and those who stood closest in her First Circle.

Now was not the time to become distracted, however, not even by such an intriguing possibility. Phil cast his own Sight probe while he moved toward the front of the Coach. Although unable to delve as deeply as the Red caster, Phil might still catch something first. A Warlord Prince generally started his scan for the possibility of a danger that even they might have trouble shielding against, not that there were any known warlords or witches wearing either the Ebon Gray or Black any longer, not since the last of the Sadi line had finally passed into the beyond over a thousand years ago. A foe of equal strength could still cause trouble, while several of the lesser Jeweled, banded together, could still pose danger enough. As a mere Warlord and lighter colored compared to the four Warlord Princes around him, Phil listened to logic instead of instinct, and started his probe in the upper threads.

Better, too, to have only a Warlord trigger anything left behind rather than one of Pepper's Warlord Princes. Her First Circle had already been wounded deeply by the treachery of the poisonous Loki, brother to the Warlord Prince Thor, who was Consort to the Province Queen of Tromsø. That Loki had also managed to seduce Prince Obadiah and Warlord Justin to his cause remained a source of pain and distress, to the point where Pepper had yet to trust and bring anyone else into her First Circle to mend the broken web of Protocol and Balance losing the three warlords had caused.

Obviously, Pepper would never agree that Phil was less valuable than the others of the First Circle, but she was still a practical Queen, and a wise one, unafraid to recognize things that had to be done for the greater good no matter the potential danger. So she made no effort to stop Phil, her confidence in his training serving to balance against his willingness to sacrifice himself.

In matters such as psychic traps and tangled webs, Phil had received nearly as much training as might a practitioner of the Hourglass Coven, not that the Priestesses and Black Widows associated with the Court had been too happy about that. Because Phil's mentor had been male himself and no more a Black Widow than Phil was now. 

Nick Fury was, instead, a Warlord Prince and Master of the Guard of the Glacian Queens from a time when a Sadi still lived, before passing on the duty and title once Pepper had presented Steve Rogers to him. Nick was one of a handful of Gray Jeweled Blood who'd survived the last Great Blood War, and was still one of Pepper's advisors and a member of the First Circle despite his 'retirement'  -- and subsequent acceptance of the position of the Queen's Spy.  It was as a Master Spy that Nick had come by his knowledge in the ways of the Tangled Webs, and why Phil had been trained in the same, as one of a handful of Nick's protégés. 

In addition to being trained to deal with mental minefields, Phil's other advantage right now came from him _not_ being a Warlord Prince. Tony was _still_ arguing with his Queen, his feelings of love for her as well as his more savage nature overriding the Protocols of loyalty and duty to his Queen, which in turn was adding to Steve, Bucky and Rhodey's unease and desires to deal violence to any threat. Phil, not as genetically disposed as the other four to constantly ride the killing edge, could control himself better even in a situation like this.

What Phil's probe triggered was neither trap nor warning. Instead, he was answered by an open thread challenge anyone of the Blood would be able to sense. A challenge issued by a warlord who had drained nearly through even his birthright jewels. Not enough was left to give sense of Jewel or rank, but the warlord's intent was clear. He stood in promise that his death would not come easy or clean. It was hard to remain unmoved by the effort, even without knowing whether the attacker or this defender was the villain.

Pepper, too, seemed affected; Phil watched as she wrested herself from Tony's hold and turned to her Master of the Guard.

"Steve, we _must_ render aid – "

"The Winds are too unstable to ride, my Queen," Steve protested immediately, though his jaw tightened as he fought his own instincts to do exactly that.

"Then ride the horses," came Pepper's response, but it came not from their friend, Virginia Potts, who happened to wear Sapphire, but their Queen; a command not a request.  "A terrible wrong will happen unless we intercede."

Even Tony fell speechless, more from the certainty behind her command, Phil decided, than the command itself. But then Queens could sometimes sense what those stronger than them could not. For Queens were first beholden to the lands they ruled, were its protectors and its caretakers, while the warlords and witches of their Circles were beholden first to them. A Queen's relationship to the land held no matter the color she wore, with the Queen's strength and will having a lot to do with the region she ruled. Pepper was no District or Province Queen, but the ruler of Glacia, a full territory and one of the largest within all of Kaeleer. And as such, all of Glacia spoke to her.

"Where are they?" Tony asked, no longer acting as Consort but simply as one of the rest of them, pledged to do her bidding.

Pepper pointed toward the east. "Beyond the bowl of the landing. Perhaps five miles to the northeast, or as much as eight, maybe even ten.  I cannot… " She broke off with a shake of her head, her shoulders lowering in despair from being unable to sense anything more definitive. "Head toward Budapest. They departed from the road on the north side at some point. Perhaps there will be a sign?"

The Queen's urgency seemed felt by the horses too; at least they made no effort to thwart Happy's removing the traces and rigging them into riding gear, nor did they stymy Tony mounting one despite a mutual hatred between the Warlord Prince and horses as a breed. Bucky claimed another at Steve's signal, while Phil accepted the one Pepper led to him in an unvoiced command that he be her eyes and ears in this as he was for Jarvis in general in matters outside the Palace. She looked unhappy not to be joining the rescue herself, but voiced no objection to staying that might force her companions to argue or disobey and then arrive too late to make a difference. Steve, Rhodey and Happy were remaining with her, the ones to see her to safety and to marshal whatever force might be needed if the forthcoming rescue went poorly.

About five miles along the road toward Budapest, there was indeed a sign of where the warlord and his attackers moved from the road. Along with a growing pressure from the storm's psychic residue, they encountered physical evidence of a battle: a copse of smoldering trees and bushes that, as they left the road themselves, soon became flattened debris as from an explosion, with some of the less sturdy plants already nothing but ash. Rocks, too had been shattered by the forces unleashed. There were no bodies, but this level of power would have reduced skin and bone to ash too.

Even from such a death, however,  Blood left traces, and Phil could now sense eddies of lingering psychic residue, some darker than his Green and in quantities that even a Warlord Prince of Steve or Tony's level would have difficulty prevailing against had they stood alone.

Not a Warlord Prince, though still a Prince, and not alone, although he was the only one fighting against what appeared to be twenty men still standing.

"Mother Night!" Tony prayed, while Phil's own breath and words caught in his throat.

Here, there were bodies, both living and dead, though few were still moving other than those who fought. The rest were only children, a line of them, some unmoving and dead, though most appeared to be alive. The attackers were slavers – no, obviously, the _defenders_ had been the slavers, with the Prince and the Black Widow now crouched at his feet and tending to the children, the ones who had attacked. To cause the utter destruction of the first line of defenders, along with a several mile radius of the countryside, one of two below in the valley had to wear at least the Sapphire, though given that even Tony seemed hesitant to advance, Phil suspected they were dealing with a Gray Jeweled warlord or witch. There had been something in that first thread, though, in the warlord – the Prince's – challenge that resonated with Phil more than the others. The Prince wore the green, wore the same Jewel as Phil. Which meant the Black Widow wore the darker jewel.

They had seen devastation on this level before, during Loki's betrayal. Accepted at Court and into Pepper's First Circle, Loki had also been a Green Jeweled Warlord Prince. They'd only discovered he was also a Black Widow, a _natural_ one (one of only a handful of males born as such in all of the Blood's long, long history), when he'd turned on them. Loki's attack had not been forthright, not an overt challenge backed by the strength and power of his Jewels, but instead he'd done his treachery through illusion, poison, and plague, striking first at the Hourglass covens who might have uncovered his evil in time to have stopped him, then against his own brother and those who had accepted him as brother, leaving Lords Obadiah and Justin to raise the armies of Blood and landen alike to battle Glacia's Queen.

The ravages of that rebellion still littered the countryside and marked Glacia's people. Entire villages had been obliterated, some by direct attack and some simply as the fallout of the magics unleashed. Great swaths of land lay uninhabitable for at least half a generation, a generation that might not be born given how many of their daring and most able had risen to their Queen's call or had fallen sway to Loki's lies. The Court, too, still bore its wounds; Tony would forever need to take his draught to stave off completing the damage one of Loki's plagues had caused, while Loki's poisons had claimed Glacia's High Priestess, Valentina's life, along with both of Jarvis' legs, Bucky his left arm, Matt his eyesight.

Pepper still believed that the reasons behind Loki's duplicity lay in a fault with her.  Phil had little doubt that that guilt, coupled with the similarity between certain things done in Loki's name and in the injustice unfolding before them here, had triggered Pepper's frantic intent to insure a more favorable outcome this time.

The Prince and Black Widow were certainly doing their best. Both were drenched in blood, clothing rent and power nearly depleted.  _Whatever_ color jewel the Black Widow wore, what power she still held was now being channeled into the body of a young child – two, actually – along with maintaining some level of personal shielding around herself and all of the children. So a Healer as well, a rare combination in these days, so much so that most witches with both abilities were feted and given positions of honor within a Queen's Court that all might benefit from the visions as well as medical aid that might need be rendered.

As remarkable as the sight of an unknown dark Jeweled witch who was both Black Widow and Healer was, Phil was more taken by the Prince who defending her. Instead of a blade, he held a bow, wielding it as he might a quarterstaff, his quiver lying broken-strapped and empty at his feet. A _Dea al Mon_ Great Bow, by its appearance and feel within Phil's Sight, despite it being a weapon the reclusive Children of the Woods gave to no outsider... despite the clear evidence he was no son of the Dea al Mon, given the massive black wings at his back and the fierceness to his fighting though only a Prince, not a Warlord Prince.

One of those incredible wings was shredded, the thin membrane between the vanes hanging in strips, keeping him grounded as much as the charges he strove to protect did. Yet the dreadful injury seemed to no more hamper his fighting than did his drained power or lack of arrows, which is to say that he was still an _Eyrien Warrior_ , a man who would fight to his very last breath and perhaps even beyond, willing to becoming demon-dead that he might save the others, had he had even a thimbleful of power left to make the transition if death came to him here.

The wounded wing and the resolve, the fierceness and sheer beauty of this Eyrien warrior giving his all to protect his companion and the children had Phil's temper rising to his own killing edge with no thought to stay his hand and offer only defense and protection while Tony and Bucky took to the killing field.  It didn't matter that those who harried the Eyrien were either landen or light Jeweled, cowards all, who had hung back while those of the darker Jewels had first attacked and drained the pair. It certainly didn't matter that these worthless excuses for men were utterly defenseless against Phil, who had expended little energy in his earlier shielding or probes. He released an attack that exploded the blood in their craven bodies, siphoning off only enough power to further shield the Eyrien, the Black Widow, and the children from the destructive magics.

It was only as he recoiled from the appalling violence he'd just caused that Phil realized he'd given no regard to Tony or Bucky's safety – nor to his own. The Warlord Princes _had_ warded themselves, of course, both of them stronger than Phil, as Bucky wore the Sapphire, so his magic flared around them just as harmlessly as it did those he'd purposely protected. It flared, too, against an unseen barrier, flared and began to rebound back toward Phil, as someone of the Blood had cast their own defenses amongst their forces. Fortunately, Tony's expertise lay in the construction – and _deconstruction –_ of spells, and he was blindingly fast, thrusting out some sort of Red spear that pierced the barrier as well as siphoned off enough of Phil's attack that Phil wasn't destroyed along with all the landen by his own recklessness. Instead what he'd unleashed merely bowled him over, as it did those of the Blood amongst the remaining slavers.

*Idiot male,* the Black Widow sent to him on psychic thread narrowed between just the two of them. *I thank you just the same, for the aid and intent. Tell your Warlord Princes that there are still three marauders out beyond, somewhere; the Master Slaver and two of his customers, who are lords to this band. In addition to the slaver being a Blood Opal Warlord, one the others is a Green Warlord Prince and the third a Sapphire Prince. One of them holds some sort of device or has a skill in rendering all three of them invisible to Sight and senses, though the power seems to falter when they attack. They like to – *

Their preferred form of attack became obvious in the next instant without needing the Black Widow's warning, as suddenly Tony spun away from a glowing blade as long as his torso, though not before the weapon found purchase with a glancing slice that started at Tony's lower ribs to end just below his right hip. Before the follow through, before Tony marshaled his defenses and did something to unravel the spell that had allowed the sword to get past his personal shields, Bucky fired too, with his own bow, a crossbow.

Instead of striking against the warlord directly, Bucky aimed at the ensorcelled weapon, hitting it with his own augmented bolt, and once more, power met power and began to rebound. In this, Bucky also proved quicker than the ambusher, throwing himself to the side after discarding the crossbow, so that the bow might prove the target of the backlash instead of his mind or his body.

The attack and distracting glare from the spells gave Tony time to recover and launch his own attack and finish off the would-be assassin, while Bucky stood ready to meet the next visible or invisible foe.

*There are two more of the Blood!* Phil sent a thread to only Tony and Bucky. *They are likely masked, too.*

*Not any longer,* Tony crowed.

As Phil managed to pull himself up to his knees, trying in vain to ignore the pounding in his head from his spell's backlash, he could see Tony now held something in his hand that was small and mostly obscured. It began to glow. An answering glow started up under a pile of bodies. Before Tony could make mention of what he'd uncovered, Bucky leapt. And struck.

By the time Phil struggled the rest of the way to his feet, the spell that hid the two remaining slavers failed, though Bucky hadn't needed them visible to deal with them. Tony moved to join him, not that Bucky needed further aid, but then Tony started searching their bodies while Bucky searched their faces. Tony to unravel the magics they'd used, no doubt, while Bucky memorized their faces for the subsequent investigation to uncover others who might be involved in this kidnapping and slavery scheme as instigators or buyers.

Phil was looking forward to that investigation. While Blood murdering Blood was not illegal – savagery and possessiveness were simply a part of their genes along with the ability to sense and manipulate the psychic world – kidnapping and enslavement were. The more powerful the guilty were (either politically or in their Jewel strength), the harsher would be the penalties. Commoners, Blood and landen alike, who were part of the conspiracy or received the benefits of the crimes, would stand trial and be subject to prison or punishment as determined by the Queen and the victims. Any guilty Aristos who had deemed themselves above their Queen's laws, however, would be shown no more mercy than had been shown to any of the men on this killing field. And while Phil didn't _enjoy_ being one of the Queen's executioners, he both appreciated the necessity and took pride in being very good at his job.

Which is why he felt no remorse as he joined the Eyrien in putting his sword to those who'd only been stunned by Phil's initial attack and finishing the kill. He felt certain that if any of the band had been coerced into their participation, they would have already quit the field; the Eryien and the Black Widow had exhausted themselves to the point of being unable to stop them, while their masters had proved too cowardly in their hiding and planning an ambush to have given themselves away by enforcing the coercion.

When it was done, when all who deserved so lay as carrion to the natural world, Phil gave moment to analyze his actions when first upon the scene. Never before a reckless man by nature or inclination, neither did he particularly like or enjoy a child's company that he might have taken their plight so personally. Phil knew his Queen felt much the same, not forbidding her Court of their desires for offspring, but also not encouraging them to fill the halls with tiny feet and giggling. So far, within the First Circle, only Jasper and Nick had had progeny, with Nick's daughter, Maria, a District Queen and mother in her own right. Only Steve and Bruce had shown a desire for fatherhood, while Pepper herself had only discussed the possibility in terms of maintaining bloodlines. She'd just as quickly put the idea off to a future that neither she nor Tony seemed anxious to bring about. 

If not for the children's sake then (and simple justice would not have required such an untidy, reckless effort), Phil was left with feeling a disconcerting sympathy or connection to one of the other two as cause for his uncharacteristic fierceness. It was said that a Queen might recognize at first glance those who were destined to be part of her Court and, indeed, Phil had known upon first laying eyes in turn upon Pepper, that he had been Called to offer her his service. Yet, in general, such conviction of rightness did not extend between other Blood. Not even between families, as had been evidenced by Loki and Thor. 

Phil certainly did not believe in Soul Bonds, nor in Fate beyond a Black Widow's ability to look into possible futures and certain others of the Blood who could craft their spells so deeply that they could influence people and circumstance to progress as the caster preferred. And, even then, Phil was well aware that all webs and spells could be broken. Neither did he believe in love at first sight and, frankly, thought himself too long alone and set in his ways to act out hastily because lust or because someone just happened to be attractive. (Oh, but they _both_ were, the man as much as the woman, despite the marks from the violence they'd perpetrated and received that covered their bodies – or perhaps because of that.)

He was saved from further embarrassing revelations by Tony and Bucky's arrival at his side. They gave Phil a glance over, as he did in return; the wound that Tony had sustained appeared bloody, but didn't seem to hamper his movements. Or his cheerfulness. Bucky, of course, remained the golden boy, emerging unscathed as it had been since the loss of his arm, as if that calamity stood as protection or payment in the months after. Bucky was also the one who herded them toward the children and their protectors, though he stopped prodding Tony when it became obvious he was in contact with Pepper, letting the Queen know of their success and of the situation.

"Seer, how can we help?" Bucky asked the Black Widow from a position out of reach; one did not blithely touch a stranger without invitation, no matter how battered or injured they appeared.

"If you would see to the rest of the children?"

The Black Widow sounded exhausted, drained in power from the spells and healings she'd woven, though at a quick glance, it looked to Phil as if all of the children lived – and would continue to live thanks to her skill. Too exhausted to heal her own wounds, much less her companion's, but Pepper had a little healing ability herself, as did Happy, and between the two of them (and assuming Pepper didn't send Happy back to summon Bruce to them as a proper Healer), no doubt the worst of the damage could be managed.

Bucky moved as if the request was a command from his Queen, but then Bucky _liked_ children, and was as fierce as Steve when it came to protecting the vulnerable. He also had an uncanny ability to make people feel at ease, despite his being a hot-headed Warlord Prince.

"You are in Glacia, if you weren't aware," Tony told them at his own approach, also leaving the children's welfare to Bucky. "We three stand in the Queen's First Circle and will render whatever aid you may require, to serve as recompense for the defense you have given for our children."

Formal words, _effective_ words, to have the Black Widow stopping and with just a touch of what looked like an intrinsic protest from the male so that she could instead give a quick nod of acquiescence.

"I am Natasha, this is Clint. We are … Seekers and we thank you for your Queen's hospitality." The smile that she attempted was forced, perhaps even unnatural on her face, and her companion – Clint – made no effort to relax his vigilance or his suspicions.

Phil wouldn't have either, not if _his_ partner was drained as well as exhausted, no matter how pretty the words or polite the messenger, for all that she was Gray Jeweled and the Warrior wore the Green.

He found himself wanting to wrap them both within blankets or shields beyond the impersonal ones he'd thrown around them as he'd delivered death to so many of the others. Standing there, propping each other up so that they stood before strangers, they looked barely more than children themselves, or at least had Phil feeling his hundreds of years. Certainly his opinion on their attractiveness hardly changed, unless it was to show him even more smitten.

The red in Lady Natasha's hair wasn't simply from the blood drenching her and Clint, but also her natural color, no matter that she had the delicate points to her ears along with the slender, lithe petiteness that proclaimed her a daughter of the Dea al Mon. Full Dea al Mon, from what Phil could Sense; any other race within her blood to give her such uncharacteristic hair color had to have mated to one of the Children of the Wood many generations past. He supposed that could explain the bow in her companion's possession, but then, so did Clint's own now observable Dea al Mon traits when Phil finally gave in and looked his fill.

The Eryien warrior read as a first generation half-breed, something even more surprising than Natasha's red hair or the two's willingness to travel outside the Wood. The Dea al Mon were an insular people, one of the short-lived races although the Blood ran as true in them as they did the long-lived people or the Kindred. As a rule, they stayed away from the politics and concerns of their neighbors that had only brought war and despair for untold years, sending few emissaries to other Courts and certainly not serving in any Human Courts. So rare to leave or to allow strangers within the borders of their territory, there was simply too little opportunity to meet and fall in love with an Outsider, especially, Phil would have thought, with one of the long-lived Eyrien.

Yet this was not a half-breed who'd been shunned, not given the Dea al Mon bow he held (which he could never have claimed had his blood been denied), and used with the moves of a trained Eyrien (who'd been forced to put aside their prejudices against _tainted_ blood first when Lucivar Yaslana had risen to rule over the Eyrien ancestral home many centuries before, then through the Great War scant centuries after Yaslana's death that had nearly rendered the Eyrien race extinct).

*Provocateur, you are staring,*

At least Tony had the grace to make it a private sending, full of mocking laughter but also genuine pleasure. Phil had a long history of not letting Tony get under his skin, not even in this, so his own sending was dry and inflectionless, while he also made no show of startling or jerking his attention away in guilt or embarrassment in being caught. *They are Dea al Mon. We have all been staring.*

*Yes, but you, dear Agent, are staring like they are your last meal, while I am simply appreciating their unique and aesthetic beauty.  You – *

*Someone report,* Steve broke in with his own sending. *We are here. Is it safe to bring the Queen in?*

Obviously not _here_ , or Steve wouldn't have had the need to ask. Nearby, though, and well shielded. He was giving them warning, giving them time to pass warning on to a jumpy Black Widow and a pissed off Prince that might object to more strangers, even if one of the strangers was Glacia's Queen.

"My Queen would like to give her personal thanks as well as see to the children's needs," Tony began another formal address before giving in to his inherent, irrepressible nature. "Can you manage your xenophobia with those who didn't just save your asses?"

"You killed one man, the weakest at that," Clint shot back, voice and posture rising to Tony's challenge. "And you a Red Jeweled Warlord Prince. Your _Warrior_ , a Sapphire Warlord Prince, only managed two. If there was any saving done, not that we didn't have it under control, that came from the hand of your Green Jeweled…" here his brow rose, in uncertainty or dismay, " – assassin – "

"Provocateur," Tony interrupted, just as Phil offered:

"Proxy and sometimes Ambassador." He also offered his hands, bent at the elbows and raised, with his palms facing himself as a symbol of being unarmed with his power being only a danger to himself. It wasn't, of course, but Protocol was easy to fall back upon, plus it had the added bonus of frustrating Tony as the rituals were observed.

Natasha was the one who answered, not that Clint didn't bristle before giving in. She offered her own hands out straight before her, her right palm turned up to the sky so that her venom filled nail faced away when Phil moved to place his right hand atop her left, and his left brushed against the back of her right.

"We would like to meet your Queen."

\-- finis --

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea if I'm every going to write more in this 'verse. I've set it up to do so if I get inspired, but I have so many stories already cluttering up my head to even consider doing something more here in the not so near future.


End file.
